I Dream of Genie
by CAJeannieFan57
Summary: I Dream of Jeannie and Bob Newhart Show Crossover. Howard Borden is visited by a genie named Jeannie. WHY?
1. Default Chapter

**I Dream of Genie**

**A Bob Newhart Show Fan Fiction**

**Set during Season 6 TBNS (77-78)**

**Story and Teleplay by CAJeannieFan57/Donna**

Bob and Emily Hartley were cuddling on the sofa, watching the television news and commenting about how bad the gasoline shortage was supposed to be.

"I'm glad we don't use our car much to get around, Emily. I hate sitting in those lines!" Bob commented.

"And then the prices! One of our teachers at school was shocked to spend more than $10 to fill her car's gasoline tank!" Emily replied, just as there was a knock at the door.

Bob got up to answer it. As he opened it, he discovered a very despondent Howard Borden on the other side of it. Howard was their single neighbor, an airline navigator who spent a lot of ground time visiting with the Hartleys. "Hi, Howard, what's up?"

"Oh, hi, Bob. Do you have time? I need to talk to you," Howard replied.

"Sure, Howard, come on in," Bob answered.

Howard came in, but stopped before he came down the steps. "No, I mean professionally, Bob. According to my supervisor at the airlines, I need to see a psychologist."

"They're just deciding you need to do that, Howard?" Emily was surprised.

"Well… um…..yes …. Well, I've … um …. I've been …. Well, I've been grounded," Howard admitted.

"GROUNDED!" both Emily and Bob said at once, together.

"Why, Howard?" Bob wanted to know.

"Well, this morning on the way back to Chicago, a genie popped into the cockpit of the plane and onto my lap. And I told my supervisor about her, later," Howard explained.

"Genie? Her?" Bob's eyes widened, almost popping out of his head. It had been a long time since he'd had a patient with delusions of djinn or witches. "The genie was a SHE? A girl genie?"

"A gorgeous blond female genie. She was…" Howard's eyebrows and eyes lit up in appreciation for the female figure that had supposedly landed in his lap. "Whew, Bob."

Bob looked over at Emily, who was avidly listening and brimming with curiosity. "Emily, I think I need to talk to Howard NOW."

"Sure, Bob. Shall I get your coat and your office keys?" Emily tried to be a good wife.

"No, I think this deserves a house call. Howard, there's my sofa. Emily, could you please …." Bob looked towards their bedroom.

Emily looked disappointed at first, then at the bedroom, smiling back at both Bob and Howard. "Oh, sure, Bob, Howard. I have a lot of papers to grade and then there's that book about reading disabilities that I really want to start." She slipped into their bedroom, still looking back at the two men, longing to hear THIS story. 'Perhaps,' she thought, 'I can cajole the story out of Bob later. A female genie in Howard's cockpit! Wouldn't Carol love to hear this, too!"

It had all begun about two weeks before, Howard told Bob. As Howard relayed the story, Bob was drawn in to be a part of it…

Howard was walking through La Guardia Airport in New York City, having just come off a flight from Bangkok, Thailand. He had a six-hour layover before his return flight to Chicago, and he intended to call around and see which of his girls might be in town. Howard rounded a corner where he knew a payphone was located but was apprehended by a drop-dead gorgeous blond female. The woman grabbed his arm.

"Roger? We found you! What are you doing here?" the woman asked him.

Howard stopped and looked at the woman, immediately appreciating what he saw. This gal was dressed in a yellow empire-waist, u-neck dress – and she had a figure that would put many of the Playboy models to shame. "My name isn't Roger. It's Howard. But that's okay. You're GORGEOUS!"

"You have to be Roger. My brother-in-law has been missing for about two weeks and you look JUST like him!" the woman said.

A man dressed in a blue Air Force officer's uniform came up to Howard and the woman just then. "Rog'? What are you doing here and in that uniform?"

Howard looked down at his khaki airline uniform with its shoulder boards of three wide stripes, and back at the man in blue. "This IS my uniform – but my name is Howard, not Roger. I just told this pretty lady that."

"Come on, Rog', the joke's over. This is Jeannie, my wife, and you know her," the man said, "Just like you know me."

Howard shook his head. He was already jet-lagged from going halfway around the world and back in three days, and this was just adding to his confusion. "I have no idea who you are."

"You're a United States astronaut and you've been my partner on more space flights than I can count. You're now in the Engineering Department at NASA, but you're still an astronaut just like me," the now wide-eyed man stated.

"Astronaut!" Howard exclaimed. "Maybe in one of my dreams, I was! But I'm just a navigator for a cargo airline." He thought for a minute. "Being an astronaut would be pretty wild, I'll bet."

"You bet it is, and you know it." It was the man's turn to think. "Did you lose your memory somehow, some place? How long have you been working for the airline?"

Howard thought for a minute. "For this one, about 4 years, but I worked for a passenger airline for sixteen years before that."

The man turned to his wife, "Jeannie, I think Roger's lost his memory. Can you try to blink it back for him?"

"Of course, Master," Jeannie responded. To Howard's amazement, the woman put her feet about 9 inches apart, folded her arms, right over left in front of her, and blinked grandly. Howard looked on, puzzled. "Roger? Do you remember us now?"

"I told you, my name's not Roger - it's Howard, and I was going to try to make a date with my girlfriend here in New York City. I've only got a 6-hour layover."

"Girlfriend! Colonel Healey! You cannot do that!" Jeannie was indignant.

"Would you mind telling me why not?" Howard said, defensively.

"YOU are MARRIED! And we have BEEN through this before!"

"I am NOT married, and I don't know what we've been through because I've never met you before!" Howard had enough, and trotted quickly away to find the payphone. While he was standing at the phone dialing, Jeannie and the man suddenly appeared in front of him. They appeared to just pop in out of nowhere. "H - How did you get here?"

"Come on, Rog', you know what Jeannie can do. You've known for more than 12 years! And since you seem to have forgotten," the man said indignantly, "you are married to my sister Tracy! For the second time!"

Howard shook his head. "I'm divorced, and my wife's name was … was …" he was so flustered he couldn't remember his ex-wife's name at first, "Lois! And she doesn't have any brothers in the …." He looked at the uniform closely, "Air Force!" He hung up the phone.

"Doesn't the last name 'Nelson' ring a bell?" the man asked. Howard shook his head and folded one arm disgustedly, still hanging on to his flight bag with the other hand. "Tracy Nelson?" The head shook again. "Tony Nelson?" A firmer head shake. "Well, that's me, and I'm your best friend. Or, at least, I thought I was!"

Jeannie tried another tactic. "Do you have any children?"

Howard smiled and softened. "Yes, I have a son. His name's Howard, just like me."

"A son! You never told us! And you are not aware that you have a daughter?"

Howard snickered a little. "Not that anyone has ever told me!"

"Well, you do. She is four years old, and her name is Skylar."

"This man you think I am – what's his whole name?" Howard was suddenly curious. The thought of having a daughter intrigued him.

Tony answered, "Roger Healey – Lieutenant Colonel, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, on special assignment to NASA. He's been missing for two weeks. He took a plane out and didn't come back. He did turn the plane in, to Andrews Air Force Base, but we haven't seen him since."

Howard chuckled a little. "Maybe he had a fight with his wife? Lois and I used to do that."

Tony looked at Jeannie before saying, "Maybe, and decided to assume another identity instead of coming home." He got no reaction from Howard, so Tony continued, "Go ahead, Jeannie. Let's go home."

Howard watched, puzzled, as the gorgeous blond woman folded her arms again and blinked – and then wondered why he suddenly felt so weird.

When he landed, Howard looked around. He didn't recognize the place, but as a navigator that didn't surprise him. He often flew to unusual places. Only what he just did couldn't be defined as "flying". From what Howard remembered, his foot never stepped into a plane. He just felt slightly ethereal.

Standing in front of him, other than Tony and Jeannie, were five other people. Four of them were glaring at him, angrily. Howard didn't know any of them. Three of them were children. One little blond girl appeared to be about 7 years old, and the other was a darker headed girl of about four. The little boy was also about four years old. There was an older woman dressed in some very strange looking garb. The fifth was another absolutely drop-dead gorgeous woman, a brunette who looked enough like Tony Nelson to make Howard figure out that this must be Tracy Nelson.

"Roger Healey. Where in hell have you been!" the brunette hollered at him. "We have been looking all over for you, for the last 2 weeks! If you walked out on me, the LEAST you could have done was leave me a note!"

"Huh?" Howard had no idea what the woman was referring to. Memories of Lois yelling at him like that, rained upon him. "I just finished telling these two here, I am NOT Roger. And where am I? And how did I get here!"

"Uncle Roger, you're at our house," said the oldest child. "Did you forget us?"

"Really, Uncle Rog. You miss taking me golfing!" the little boy whined a little.

There it was - that "you've forgotten us" theme. Howard was frustrated. He was starting to believe that maybe he WAS this missing man and he HAD just forgotten who he was! But he hadn't even taken Howie golfing, so how could he take someone else's child to the golf course?

"I'm sorry, I never knew you in the first place, so why would I forget you? My name is Howard Borden, and nobody calls me uncle – yet."

The other little girl came up to him and tugged on his pants. Howard looked down at the bluest eyes he'd ever seen on a child – and had to admit that they looked just like his own. "Are you my daddy?" the little girl asked, which tugged at Howard's heart strings.

Howard squatted down, remembering Howie at this age. "I don't think so. What's your name?"

The little girl looked very sad. "My daddy ran away. You not smell like my daddy."

Howard looked back up at the adults in the room. "I think there you have it. What's her name?"

The brunette responded angrily, still not believing that this wasn't her husband. "It's Skylar. She's your daughter. And I'm your wife, Tracy."

To Skylar, Howard said, "No, Skylar, I'm not your daddy. But I'll bet something just happened to your daddy, and he'll come home soon." Howard wanted to hug the little girl, but decided he shouldn't.

Instead, he stood up and looked into the woman's eyes. He sucked in his breath with admiration before telling her, "Check my passport if you like, but I'm not Roger, I'm not married, I don't have a daughter – though this little girl is so cute – and I don't even know where I am, or how I got here."

Jeannie looked at the older girl and the boy. "Janae, T.J., take Skylar out to the backyard, please."

"Yes, Mama," said the older girl, taking Skylar by the hand.

Skylar looked back at the man in the khaki uniform. "I wish you could find my daddy. I miss him! Bye!" and she walked out the back door with the other two children. The little boy put his nose up to the glass sliding door to peek in, but Jeannie pointed outside and he left.

When the children were gone, Tony and Tracy took turns attacking Howard.

"I don't know what game you're playing, Roger, but it needs to be dropped right now," Tracy said. "Your daughter needs you."

"NASA is worried sick about you, Rog'. Rather than listing you AWOL, they've listed you as MIA. They did that when you didn't pick up your plane at Andrews," Tony said.

This went on for another two minutes before Howard went into his flight bag and took out his Passport. He handed it first to Tracy, who opened it. It had a lot of stamps on it, more than she remembered Roger's passport having. She noted the different name, birth date, a strange next of kin, and an address of an apartment in Chicago. Tracy handed it back to him. "This doesn't prove anything. A lot of people can get fake passports."

"Call the airline I work for in Chicago. Call my neighbor in Chicago – he's known me for more than five years," Howard was still befuddled.

Tony took Tracy aside for a minute and made a whispered suggestion. "When I can't tell the difference between Jeannie and her sister by looks, there are two other ways I can tell."

"What's that, Big Brother? I'm willing to try anything." Tracy was desperate. "I tell ya, if this turns out to be Roger, I'm taking him to Dr Bellows immediately!"

"Skylar already used one of them. She said that this man doesn't smell like her daddy. That's one way I can tell my wife from her sister," Tony stated.

"And the other? A man trying to hide might change his cologne."

"Well…." Tony hesitated with this suggestion, and then went on. "Why don't you try kissing him?"

Tracy giggled a little. "Well, it's hard to kiss a man that you're mad at for running off on you. And if it ISN'T Roger, I've just kissed a man not my husband."

"I think Roger would forgive you, Tracy, because of why you're doing it. And Skylar's outside," Tony continued.

After thinking for a few seconds, Tracy whispered, "Well, there IS another way to tell if it's Roger. But I think I'd rather kiss this stranger, than ask him to show me something like that."

Tony wasn't sure what Tracy was referring to, and didn't ask. Tracy went up to Howard and walked around him once. He looked at her, puzzled, and braced himself.

"Are you going to blink and take me someplace else?" he asked her.

"No, I don't blink. That's Jeannie's thing. I'm just getting up my courage to do something," Tracy responded. She finally took her small frame and planted it in front of Howard, put her arms around him – and kissed him. Howard reacted typically, enjoying every second of this unexplained kiss. Tracy stopped and caught her breath. "Well…."

Tony was avidly watching the whole encounter, as was Jeannie. "Well, Sis?"

Tracy looked up at Howard. "Wow. I have to say I enjoyed that, but – no – you aren't Roger." Tracy looked back over at Jeannie. "Wherever you found this man, Jeannie, I think you better blink him back." To Howard she said, "I hope we didn't inconvenience you too much. Your blink from Houston back to – New York City? – will take you about 20 seconds."

"Sorry I wasn't your husband. But if you ever get free – um – look me up, will you?" Howard was just coming off that kiss himself. Within seconds, though, he found himself feeling ethereal again, and then landing in the same place at La Guardia that he had left a few moments before.

Up until that point, Bob Hartley had avidly listened to the story without asking any questions. But now, as a psychologist, he had to ask some. "Howard, how did you feel about that?"

Howard looked over at Bob, who was sitting in one of the chairs while he took up the entire Hartley couch. "I really wanted to be able to help them, Bob. I mean, I've never felt that way before. They wanted me to be this … Roger fella … and I disappointed them."

"You had a twinge in your voice about the little girl."

Howard gulped. "That was most of it. She was – just as I would want a little sister for Howie to be. Howie would love her, too."

"And the mom? How did you feel when she kissed you?"

There was a chuckle before Howard answered, "Well, that's kind of hard to describe. But I told her the truth – if she ever gets free, she could look me up. I'd take her out in a heartbeat."

"And this method of transporting you from New York City to Houston and back – how do you explain that happening?" Bob was mostly curious about that.

"I don't know. I felt like I'd been turned into millions of little bitty pieces and then put together again when I landed. It was a gas!" Howard definitely enjoyed being blinked, once he did it the second time.

Bob looked at the clock. It was still early, and he wanted to see how this story worked its way into the cockpit of Howard's plane. "So, Howard, the next time you saw this blond woman, the one who blinks, it was in the cockpit of your plane?"

"No – about a week ago, this Jeannie popped into my apartment. As a matter of fact, Bob, you've met her!" Howard exclaimed.

"ME? I've met a genie?" Bob asked, surprised.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Howard was in the kitchen of his apartment, heating up a TV dinner for his meal that evening. He intended to spend the evening cleaning up his very messy apartment. He had been gone for three days and hadn't cleaned up the place before he left, so he had his work cut out for him. There were dishes in the sink, a pile of newspapers to sort through, and his flight laundry to take care of. Just as he turned to go into the living room with his dinner in his hand, the blond woman suddenly popped into his apartment.

"H- how did you just get in here without coming through the door?" Howard asked, shakily.

"Oh, hello …. Howard, is it not?"

"I see you finally got my name right … Mrs. Nelson, isn't it?" Howard replied.

"My name is Jeannie. Few call me Mrs. Nelson."

"Why are you here … Jeannie?"

"Howard, we … my husband, sister-in-law, and me … we need your assistance, if you might have time to help us this evening?"

Howard gestured towards the messy apartment, munching on his dinner as he went. "This place is a mess and I have to fly again in two days. It will take me that long to clean this place!"

Jeannie looked around. She chuckled a little. "This looks just like Roger's house when he and Tracy were divorced." Jeannie smiled at him, and Howard was bowled over by that smile. If this woman and the Tracy woman were examples of astronaut wives, those astronauts certainly were lucky men! "If I assist you with cleaning your apartment, will you help us?"

"It depends." Howard might not have been the brightest penny in the bunch, but he didn't want to be in any legal trouble.

"My husband says that there is a registry in Washington, D.C., where one is able to find the names of licensed pilots," Jeannie stated. "Something called the F.A.A.?"

Howard nodded. "What do you need that for?"

"We wish to find out if Roger may be flying for someone besides NASA now. Anthony said he would not be able to fly under any other name because his pilot's license would be in his real name," Jeannie explained.

"Sure, I can probably help with that. But they're not open until tomorrow morning. And that's a 90 minute flight from here."

"I can solve all of that." Jeannie looked first around the room. Howard watched in amazement as Jeannie planted her feet apart again, folded her arms, and blinked several times. Each time she blinked, something different happened. The first time, all of the items out of place in the living room floated to their correct places. The second time, the newspapers were stacked neatly by the apartment door. The dishes loaded themselves in the dishwasher on the third blink, and on the fourth and fifth blinks, the vacuum cleaner and duster were both going madly. Jeannie waited for a few minutes, blinked a sixth time, and the vacuum cleaner and duster stopped and put themselves away. "Does this meet with your approval?"

"H- h – how did you just do that!" Howard's eyes went wide in shock.

"This is something that we do not talk about in public – but – I am a genie," Jeannie told him.

"Wait a minute … you're a genie? Like **_Tales of the Arabian Nights_**?"

"Yes - those are many of my cousins."

"And you blink and get places and do things so quickly?"

"Yes….now can you help?" Jeannie was insistent.

"Let me finish eating, and then we can make reservations for the morning," Howard said.

"That will not be necessary." As soon as Howard put his TV dinner tray on the kitchen counter, Jeannie's blink put it in the trash can, and washed his fork. "We must leave now." Jeannie stood close to Howard. "You just think of the place in Washington, D.C. where this registry is located, and I will get us there by blink right now."

"Well….okay…." Howard closed his eyes, Jeannie blinked, and they landed … right in front of a strip joint in Washington, D.C. "Whoa. Where are we?"

"Mr. Borden! Why would such an important list be located by a … a … female exploitation club!" Jeannie was shocked.

Howard almost lost it in laughter. "Female exploitation club? Is that what you call a strip joint?"

"I cannot imagine what such a list would be doing here."

Howard shook his head. "Sorry, Mrs. Nelson – Jeannie – I must have thought of this place right as you blinked. I was trying to think of the FAA's Licensing Bureau!"

Jeannie placed herself in blink position again. "Now think of that Licensing Bureau, Howard."

The two landed inside a room with 16 four-drawer cabinets in one room, and 16 four-drawer cabinets in the next room.

"Oh, my," Jeannie sighed. "I would not know where to look."

Howard looked at the drawers and opened a few. "What was his last name, did you say?"

"Healey. H-E-A-L-E-Y."

"What does that start with?" Howard absentmindedly asked.

Jeannie stared back at him, and then shrugged. "H."

It took the two of them about a half hour and flipping through quite a few drawers to find Roger's pilot's license, dated back in 1962, as well as his Top Gun certification. But he was still listed as "Astronaut, NASA". Wading through quite a few large registry books indicated that nothing had been sitting there waiting to be added.

Howard found the drawer containing his own record, and pulled it out. He showed it to Jeannie.

Suddenly they both heard footsteps outside the door of the room they were in. Jeannie quickly blinked and the two were turned miniature. She pulled Howard behind a big fake flower plant.

"This is weird," Howard told Jeannie. "First I feel sort of … ethereal … then I feel just plain sneaky, and now I'm really tiny and I feel inconspicuous."

After the footsteps went by, Jeannie blinked them full-sized again, then back to Howard's apartment in Chicago.

"Thank you for your assistance. I do not believe we could have done that without you," Jeannie told him.

Howard hesitated, but then asked, "If you ever find him, could you bring him here to meet me? I'd really like to meet this guy who looks like me."

"Of course. I would think that Colonel Healey would like to meet you, as well."

There was a knock on Howard's apartment door. It was Bob from across the hall. He had some mail of Howard's that had gotten in a different pile, and he wanted to return it. Howard introduced Bob to Jeannie, not really explaining who she was or what she was doing there. Bob didn't think anything of it, because Howard often had a woman in his apartment. The only thing Bob thought was that THIS one was absolutely beautiful.

Bob stopped Howard again to ask another question. "How did you feel after that trip to Washington, D.C., Howard?"

"Ethereal. Weird. Out of this world, in some ways."

"About the failure to find anything about Roger, or just because of the way this genie was bouncing you around everywhere and doing things so … magically?"

"Really, both. I still wanted to help her find her brother-in-law. But I sure didn't know how to go about it. I kept thinking about that little girl. If that was Howie, he knows that I'm still around even though I don't live with him."

"And…?"

"That little girl – she doesn't know what has happened to her daddy. He's either very irresponsible, or something has happened to him. He's an astronaut. He's GOT to be responsible."

"Yes, if it's the one I'm thinking of, both Roger Healey and Tony Nelson went up in Apollo to the moon."

Howard sat up on the sofa. "You mean … I met a guy who's been on the moon?" He was incredulous.

"Yes, Howard – I think either Apollo 14 or 15, but I don't remember which."

Howard lay back down on the sofa. "Now I KNOW I've got to help those people find their missing man."

Bob was more practical. "Howard, this is a huge world, how would you do that?"

The answer was a shake of the head. "I don't know – but I've got to try. That little girl needs her daddy. And I don't think you know how small this world is until you start flying around it like I do." Bob was shocked at the intelligence of that statement.

There was a long pause before Bob encouraged Howard to continue the story.

Two days after Howard had made the impromptu, sneaky visit to the License Bureau in Washington, D.C. with Jeannie, he was assigned to a flight from Chicago to Washington, D.C. In the airport at Washington, D.C., he checked his assignment schedule and discovered that he had a six-hour layover there before flying to Los Angeles and on to San Diego. He groaned – he hated flying into San Diego's Lindbergh Field because landings were so strange there.

Thinking about getting a date during his layover, he picked up a newspaper with the intention of finding out what movies were playing in the Nation's Capital before calling girls. A pretty but older stewardess from a passenger airline came up to him as he was looking at the paper. He was just about to make a date with her when she pointed at a picture in the paper.

"He looks just like you," the stewardess said.

Howard looked at the photo, which was of a very battered man sitting up in what looked like a hospital bed. His head was bandaged and there were bandages all over the arms. "How can you tell?" Howard asked the stewardess.

"Something in the eyes and facial structure…. Look at the caption, though, it couldn't be you."

The caption under the photo said, "Do you know this man?" and an article accompanied it:

_This man was found, beaten and unconscious, near the corner of 3rd and D Streets, about 11:00 a.m. on Monday, April 20thth. Police and an ambulance were called. The man was admitted to Walter Reed Army Hospital under the assumed name of "John Doe" as there was no identification for him. He was assumed to be military because his clothing resembled that of an Army flight suit. He was later transferred to Veterans Hospital when his condition was stabilized. Veterans Administration authorities are searching for the man's identity and next-of-kin. If you have information, please contact your local police or Veterans Hospital. _

Howard, being a little slow sometimes, shrugged and moved on in the paper. He opened his mouth to ask the woman out to the movies, but suddenly thought of something. "Jeannie!"

"No, my name's Paige, not Jeannie," the stewardess replied.

Howard shook his head. "No, I was mistaken for someone else about a week ago, by a woman named Jeannie and her husband. They were looking for someone – and it might be this guy here they're looking for."

"So call her."

"I don't know how. She didn't leave a phone number with me."

"Try Information, if you know where she lived."

Howard found a phone booth and dialed Information in Houston, Texas. "I'm sorry, there's no Tony Nelson listed in Houston," stated the Operator.

"He's an astronaut. How about NASA?"

The operator checked. "There's no Tony Nelson listed in Nassau Bay, but perhaps he is unlisted. I even checked Anthony Nelson. There IS, however, a Thomas Nelson in Nassau Bay."

"I'll try it."

Howard called Thomas Nelson in Nassau Bay, and fortunately, he was home. "No, this isn't Tony Nelson's home. But I'm his father. May I help you?"

"He's missing his brother-in-law, and I think I may know where he is," Howard told him. "I need to know how to get in touch with Tony and Jeannie Nelson."

Thomas Nelson was all ears. "That's my son-in-law you're referring to. You can tell me what you know. Who did you say you were?"

"Howard Borden. They met me in New York City and thought I was the missing man."

"Tony told me the story. Go on."

Howard explained about the newspaper with the picture, the man being in the Veterans Hospital in Washington, D.C.

"Where are you now?" Thomas asked.

"At the airport in Washington, D.C."

"Stay there for about the next twenty minutes. What's the phone number where you can be reached?"

Howard gave him the number on the pay phone, and hung up. He was about to disregard the request to stay there when Jeannie and Tony both magically appeared in front of him. Paige, the stewardess, had already departed. 'Oh, well,' Howard thought, 'an opportunity for a date lost, but maybe I can help these people find their family member.' Aloud, he said, "How did you get here so fast?"

"You have information on Roger, Howard?" Jeannie asked first.

Howard showed them the newspaper article and picture. "That does look a little like Roger," Tony said, "but after meeting you, Howard, we're a little hesitant. Still…"

"Anthony, the article says that the man is at the Veterans Hospital, but was transferred there from Walter Reed Hospital."

"Let's go, Jeannie. If it's not Roger, we're no better or worse off than we are now," Tony stated.

"Thank you for calling us, Howard!" Jeannie said. Tony grabbed her by the hand and was searching for a hidden place when Howard spoke.

"Wait a minute! Can I go with you?" he asked.

Tony stopped. "Why would you want to do that?"

"I'd really like to know if you find him. I really felt bad when I wasn't the man you were looking for a week or so ago," Howard explained.

"Oh, sure. Why not?" Tony said. "Come on with us. Do you have a flight to catch?"

"Not for another 6 hours."

The three found a hidden spot behind a big potted tree, and Jeannie blinked the three gone.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

At the Veterans Hospital, a doctor greeted them. "You are here to see if Mr. Doe is your brother-in-law?" he asked.

"Yes," Tony explained. "Our friend Howard saw his picture in the newspaper and thought we should come. We think it might be Lt. Colonel Roger Healey."

The doctor's eyes got wide. "This might be an astronaut?" He gulped and went on. "The man we have has been mugged and severely beaten by his attacker. It appears that he attempted to fight back but his attacker must have been very strong. He received a very bad crack on the head. As a result, he has no long-term memory. He may not remember any of you."

"He wouldn't remember me anyway," Howard said. "He's never met me."

The doctor looked at Howard. "If I had a guess what Mr. Doe looked like before he met his attacker, it would be like you." He looked back at Tony and Jeannie. "Just brace yourself. He is heavily bandaged, and sometimes it can be traumatic when you are expecting someone to recognize you and they do not."

The four went into a semi-private room. Only one bed was occupied. The man named "Mr. Doe" looked up at them when they entered. "Oh. You brought more people to poke and prod me. You guys don't let up, do you?"

"No, these people say that they might know who you are," the doctor said. "It's important for us to identify you, so we can start getting you healed."

Tony looked at the man. "Roger?" while Jeannie went to his bedside and took his hand. "Roger? Is that you?"

"Mr. Doe" looked up at them and said, "No, I don't know you. Am I supposed to?"

Tony, Jeannie, and even Howard, were disappointed. They had hoped that the man would instantly be cured and would remember who he was and who his family was.

"Yes, Roger," Jeannie said. "We had hoped that you would remember us and that we could bring you back home to Houston."

The man looked even more confused, so the doctor led the three out into the hall to talk. "What do you think?"

"I think it's Roger, but I can't say for sure," Tony said.

A nurse walked up with a bag full of things. "Are you here about the John Doe case?" she asked, and got a return nod from both Tony and Jeannie. "These are the clothes that the man was wearing when he came in, according to Walter Reed Hospital." She took the contents of the bag and laid them out on a table. "These were his coveralls – we believe it's what's left of a flight suit."

"That's an Army flight suit," Tony nodded. "But the nametag is ripped off."

"And he had some civilian clothes underneath. Here's what's left of them – the labels were all from department stores, nothing identifying," the nurse went on.

Tony grabbed at a plaid shirt. "This is Roger's shirt. Or at least, Roger's got one just like it."

"Tracy would know," Jeannie suggested.

"Jeannie – go – you know – bring Tracy here."

The doctor and nurse looked very puzzled, but didn't ask. Jeannie stepped out in the hallway while Tony questioned the doctor and nurse a little more. When Jeannie came in, five minutes later, she had Tracy and Skylar with her.

"He has short-term memory. He has been able to care for his own needs, as much as he can, and even requested specific brands of toiletries like soap and shaving cream. But he doesn't know his own name, anything about his family, what he does for a living, or where he lives," the doctor was saying. "Oh, hello, who are you?"

"I'm Tracy Healey, and this is my daughter Skylar. Jeannie says you might have my husband here." Tracy then noticed Howard standing there, and asked, annoyed, "Oh, you're here, too?"

"Tracy, if it weren't for Howard here, we wouldn't have had this lead. He found an article in the Washington DC newspaper," Tony explained.

Tracy softened just then. "Oh, thank you."

"Anything I can do to help, I'd like to," Howard replied.

The doctor explained to Tracy the same things that he explained to Tony and Jeannie, earlier. Then he said, "I'm not sure that seeing this man would be the best thing for your little girl."

Tracy could be very hard-nosed. "If I have to get a counselor for her later, I will. But if this is her daddy, she needs to know that he's alive. She's been crying most every night, thinking he may never come back to her. If it isn't Roger – we'll cross that bridge when we come to it."

The nurse showed Tracy the clothing. "Before we bring you in, ma'am – perhaps you can identify this clothing as your husband's? This is what he was wearing when he was brought in to Walter Reed."

Tracy looked at the flight suit first. She gasped when she saw it, then pointed at a small stain near one of the pockets. "That stain – that's chocolate – I tried to get that stain out more than once!" She burst into tears and then saw the plaid shirt, also slightly torn up. "And that's Roger's favorite shirt! I bought it for him for his birthday last year!" More tears streamed down her face.

The doctor nodded. "All right, we have possible identification of the clothing. Unfortunately, the law won't allow me to accept that as conclusive evidence except in certain types of cases."

Tracy looked at the doctor. "I know one way I can tell for sure, but I can't do it with anyone in the room."

Tony chuckled. "Sis, you've kissed Roger in front of us before."

"No – there's just something I know about Roger that – well, you wouldn't notice even though you WERE his partner and roommate, Big Brother." Tracy looked around, then whispered, "Roger has a mole on the inside of his left thigh – right below the – um – groin area."

Tony snickered, Jeannie blushed, and Howard laughed. "Darn, she's not going to kiss me again!" Howard sighed.

"Now I know what she was referring to when she said she'd rather kiss a stranger than ask you to do something else," Tony said.

Tracy went into Roger's room by herself, but found that Roger fought her off. "You nurses are all alike, poking and prodding me and never letting me get any sleep!"

"Roger Healey - they only want what's best for you, and that's to help you get better. Now, all I want to do is look for something on the inside of your leg. Do you understand me?"

Roger looked sheepish. "Yes, ma'am."

Tracy snickered, because Roger didn't usually call anyone "ma'am" or "sir", but went on to check it out. Sure enough, there was the mole. "You ARE Roger! Oh, honey, I'm so glad we found you! Now we have to get you healed and your memory back!" She hugged him, and could feel Roger enjoying the hug.

"OK, you think you know who I am. Who are you? Nurses don't hug like THAT!"

Braced for this question thanks to the doctor's talk, she answered, "I'm Tracy Healey, your wife. You're Roger Healey - astronaut, husband, and father."

Roger disagreed. "I don't think I'm any of those things."

Tracy went back out into the hall, telling everyone, "It's Roger!" Everyone responded with whoops of joy.

The doctor said to the nurse, "Well, I think we have just renamed John Doe. Change his medical record to Roger Healey, please." To Tracy, he said, "I couldn't really change his record on basis of identifying clothing. But a mole – well, that's conclusive evidence."

"Skylar, come here, sweetheart!" Tracy knelt down, explained to Skylar what she was going to see, emphasizing that her daddy was injured and in lots of bandaids, but they would get to have him home sometime when the doctor thought he could travel. But she warned her, too, that Roger would not know her.

"That's okay, Mommy. We help him 'member us soon. I go see Daddy now."

As Tracy brought Skylar into the room, the doctor commented, "That's a very brave little girl there." The rest of them followed Tracy, who held Skylar's hand.

"Roger? I brought someone else to see you this time," Tracy said.

"What am I, a circus? Did you want me to do elephant tricks?"

Tracy giggled. "Still a good sense of humor. This is your best friend and my brother, Tony, his wife Jeannie, our new friend Howard, and you already know your doctor and nurse. But I have someone else for you to see." Tracy picked up Skylar.

Roger looked up at the little girl and stared at her for about one minute. Everyone held their breath, praying that he wouldn't say anything that would hurt Skylar's feelings forever. Instead, Roger's eyes got wide and he put his arms out. "SKYLAR!"

"Daddy! You 'member me!" and Skylar put her arms out. Tracy put Skylar on Roger's lap in the bed, and the two hugged. There were tears in everyone's eyes.

Howard whispered to Jeannie, "That's why I had to find him. That little girl. She just needed her daddy like that." Jeannie nodded, in total agreement.

Roger and Skylar remained in the hugging position, and Tracy sat on the bed next to them. After a few moments, Roger looked at Tracy, still holding his daughter close to him. "Tracy? My wife?" he asked, puzzled.

"Yes, honey. You lost your memory – do you remember me, now?"

Roger lay back on the bed and grabbed his head with one hand, still holding onto his daughter with the other one. "Oh, man, I have a BIG headache right now."

The doctor chased everyone out except Tracy and Skylar.

Bob Hartley stopped Howard, again. "Howard, how did you feel at that point?"

"Oh, Bob, I was so thankful. That little girl had her daddy again. And the man, he had a family again. That's so important."

"Anything else?"

"No – I still don't know how genies do their thing. After Tony and Jeannie thanked me, they sent me back to the airport. By blink. I felt weird again. But I could deal with that feeling every day. Sure beats the Chicago El for getting around!" Howard was referring to the elevated trains, otherwise known as the I.C. – Illinois Central.

"So the next time you saw this genie, she blinked into your cockpit?" Bob still wanted to know about that.

"Yes. This morning, I was flying and suddenly, there was Jeannie in her – genie outfit – and she blinked into my lap. She said that the cockpit was too crowded," Howard stopped to laugh.

"And how did you feel about that?"

"Um … well, if a beautiful blond suddenly landed in YOUR lap, wearing a very scanty outfit, how would YOU feel?" Howard chuckled.

Bob returned the chuckle. "So what did she want this time?"

"I'm invited for dinner sometime, and they'll provide the transportation for me to Houston. I also have a standing invitation anytime I'm in Houston – all I have to do is phone either the Healeys or the Nelsons," Howard seemed pretty pleased.

"And how is the astronaut doing?"

So Howard continued the story.

Roger was still at the Veterans Hospital. Most of his long-term memory had returned. But his body needed time to heal and some special treatments so that he could be recertified for flight status.

The story of the mauling finally came out, told by Roger, and others. One of the generals at NASA in Houston had sent Roger to Washington, D.C. on a quick "turn-around" flight to deliver some plans to NASA in the Capital. His intentions were to be home in time for dinner, so he didn't bother to call Tracy to let her know he was flying that day. Parking his F-16 at Andrews, he took a taxi into D.C. and decided to walk the last 6 blocks. He was carrying the tube containing the plans and nothing else, when he was suddenly attacked. Using the tube of plans as his only defense weapon, he remembered nothing else of the attack. Pedestrians later found him knocked unconscious and bleeding on the sidewalk, and called the police. The ambulance took him to Walter Reed Army Hospital, because they thought they recognized the flight suit as Army. Later, a different police squad, investigating the mauling, found the plans and delivered them to NASA. When no one claimed the plane for the return trip, Andrews AFB informed NASA in Houston, who listed Roger as MIA – Missing In Action. His wallet had disappeared, and he wasn't wearing any other form of identification.

Bob butted in for a moment. "Howard, did it ever come out – why didn't that general think to look in Washington, D.C. for the astronaut, when he turned up missing?"

Howard answered, "I guess he tried. They put out the MIA notice on him, but the secretary who typed it got a few details wrong. They listed his hair as red, but it's really brown. His eyes are blue, not green like the MIA notice said, and they put his weight as ten pounds lighter. So the doctors at Walter Reed thought it was someone else. And I guess that secretary got fired – Tracy – Mrs. Healey - posted a complaint about her."

"Howard – let me ask you one final question: do you believe that Jeannie Nelson was really a genie?" Bob asked.

Howard looked Bob directly in the eye and answered, "I would bet my life on it. But she told me it was private. So it's between you and me, Bob."

Bob Hartley shook his head. He wouldn't disbelieve Howard's story about the genie, nor would he believe it. If Howard wanted to dream of genies, so be it. Howard was already a little "off-center" – what difference should this belief make? None, he figured.

He sent Howard home to his apartment with a promise that he would sign a statement that Howard had been to see a psychologist and was in sound mind to fly. Bob looked at the clock, realized that it was almost midnight. So he wasn't surprised when he went into the bedroom and found Emily sound asleep.


End file.
